"Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man." -- Heidegger
11.18.2005
Before language there was still swearing
I don't know how much to trust a linguistics site unfamiliar with "interjection" (no "Schoolhouse Rock" in England, I'm afraid). Still, "infixes" was new to me. Are swear words really the only ones that get infixed?
Fascinating stuff. I've got no answer to your question, but I'm tempted to say that there's got to be something else that can infixed besides swear words. I just can't think of any.
I do remember from undergraduate linguistics that swear words are unusual in that they're frequently placed within words (ab-so-fuck-ing-lute-ly is a common example). This is common lingusitics knowledge, or at least that's how I recall it. I remember it as being unusual and not exclusive, but I may remember poorly...
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Fascinating stuff. I've got no answer to your question, but I'm tempted to say that there's got to be something else that can infixed besides swear words. I just can't think of any.
Either way, that link is a ravatalossa of a find.
I do remember from undergraduate linguistics that swear words are unusual in that they're frequently placed within words (ab-so-fuck-ing-lute-ly is a common example). This is common lingusitics knowledge, or at least that's how I recall it. I remember it as being unusual and not exclusive, but I may remember poorly...
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